Waterloo 200 Books

Waterloo has inspired hundreds of authors over the 200 years since the famous battle. See our comprehensive list of Waterloo literature, and learn about the books published in partnership with Waterloo 200.

Waterloo Books

Over the 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo, hundreds of books have been published around the world, describing almost every aspect of the famous Battle, its causes and its consequences. From histories and biographies to novels, historical fiction, and even poetry, Waterloo continues to inspire authors.

Waterloo 200 have created a list of every book dedicated to the Battle of Waterloo published in English over the last 200 years. This list, containing over 600 volumes, aims to be comprehensive. However, if you have any suggestions for amendments or additions, please contact Waterloo 200.

Waterloo: The Decisive Victory

Edited by Nick Lipscombe. Published by Osprey Publishing, endorsed by Waterloo 200 Ltd.

ISBN 978 1 4728 0104 3

Our principal book for the bicentenary is the lavishly illustrated volume edited by Nick Lipscombe. Waterloo 200 Ltd. collaborated with the publisher and editor and the result is a fine volume with important contributions from across the historians’ field. It is beautifully produced with a handsome slip case and all at £35 a copy which is a snip.

The various chapters cover specific phases and aspects of the battle written by experts in their respective fields. Jeremy Black leads the charge with an incisive review of the strategic background and reminds us of the difference between the strategic, operational and tactical levels of war. This is very useful in understanding why the battle was so important. The following chapters pick up on key features with a fine review of the commanders by Philip Haythornwaite as a bonus. The final chapter by Hew Davies is fascinating as it deals with what happened after Waterloo and what it achieved in political terms in a newly balanced Europe. Waterloo 200’s message has consistently been that the anniversary is important not so much for the battle per se but for the consequences in the European context and this chapter is a good place to start to understand this.

Waterloo: The Decisive Victory is a comprehensive book covering all the key issues of the campaign and the bigger picture. The joy is that it is all in a single volume and is exceptionally well illustrated largely by drawing on the remarkable archive of Anne SK Brown. Waterloo 200 Ltd. strongly recommends this book as the essential guide to this seminal battle.

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Waterloo 1815: A Commemorative Anthology

This book is published by Extraordinary Editions, in partnership with and endorsed by Waterloo 200 Ltd.

This book is an entirely different type of work. It is as it suggests an anthology of contemporaneous accounts. The book takes Mudford’s An Historical Account of the Campaign then weaves throughout letters, reports and recollections from men of both sides and all nationalities, some famous, many obscure but all writing with the visceral voice of a front line participant. The result is fascinating overview of the campaign and an extraordinarily vivid depiction of the battle by the men who fought in it.

There are over 200 pages of prints, maps and facsimile documents from sources across Europe and the United States. Each image has been scanned at high resolution and then digitally corrected before being proofed prior to printing. Many of the images reproduced here have rarely been seen before; some are published for the first time, including material from the Getty Library at Wormsley and the Anne SK Brown Library. The book comes with a separate portfolio containing all eight of the famous Siborne maps.

This is a collector’s volume and is exquisitely produced but there are few copies and many have already been subscribed to. The Commemorative edition is £850 and the Exemplary edition is a neat £1815. This book comes from the same stable as the well known SAS War Diary published in 2011. You can see more detail at www.extraordinaryeditions.com and enquiries should be directed to mm@extraordinaryeditions.com.

Waterloo: Myth & Reality

By Gareth Glover. Published by Pen & Sword Books, September 2014. Endorsed by Waterloo 200 Ltd.

£25, ISBN 978-1781593561

Gareth Glover has made an immense contribution to literature on the Napoleonic War and in particular his recent series of Waterloo Archives (books I-6). His research puts him in a commanding position to clarify many debated issues of the Waterloo Campaign.
The history of this important campaign has never been simple, but the ensuing two centuries have seen so many claims and counter claims by the differing factions, while fiction and the passage of time have muddied the waters further, somehow morphing into fact, to the point where it is now almost impossible to know what is the truth.

The last decade has also seen an impressive surge in the publication of newly discovered primary source material regarding the Waterloo campaign, that historians have been forced to reassess their understanding of many aspects of the battle and campaign. Gareth Glover has meticulously sifted through all of the new evidence, to give his careful assessment of what actually happened during that campaign, and aims to finally discredit numerous myths along the way. This will provide the reader with the most up to date thinking on this fascinating campaign.

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Waterloo in 100 Items

By Gareth Glover. Published by History Press April 2015. Endorsed by Waterloo 200 Ltd.

£25. ISBN 978-0750962896

Items relating to an event can evoke strong emotions and a greater understanding of the human element involved. Waterloo was such a seismic event that numerous mementoes were kept of the battle and Gareth Glover has identified 100 iconic items each of which links to one aspect of the battle and the accompanying text explores this subject and throws up many surprises. From uniforms to weapons, ball gowns to surgeons’ saws, stuffed horses to Waterloo teeth, each will both educate and enthral. Beautifully presented with hundreds of high quality images, this book is a sheer delight for anyone.

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The Battle of Waterloo Experience

By Peter & Dan Snow. Published by Andre Deutsch in association with the National Army Museum. Endorsed by Waterloo 200 Ltd

£30, ISBN 978 023300 447 1

In this fascinating book, renowned military historians, journalists and broadcasters Peter and Dan Snow examine the strengths and weaknesses of the leaders, the armies and the weapons they had under their command. Like all the greatest battles, Waterloo is steeped in controversy – the battle ended in decisive victory, but it might so easily have turned out differently. The Snows explore all the questions the battle raised. Who made mistakes? Whose victory really was it? Would Wellington have won without Blücher and his Prussians? What was the main cause of the French defeat?

What makes this publication unique is that readers are able to relive this extraordinary moment in history by holding and examining replica or previously unpublished sketch maps, letters, orders, official papers and proclamations held by the National Army Museum and other archives and museums around Europe.

The Battle of Waterloo Experience features 20 rarely seen documents of historic importance, 80 period paintings, etchings and illustrations, 20 colour photographs of Waterloo militaria from the National Army Museum’s unparalleled collections and six specially commissioned full-colour battle and campaign maps. This is a must-have publication for any Waterloo enthusiast.